New Life
by Etimire T
Summary: Marty McFly can wrap his head around a bucket-load of stuff, (time travel, alternate realities, flying trains.) He'll happily help his friend, Emmet Brown, recover after losing his wife and sons. What Marty can't deal with is the floppy-haired young idiot wearing Doc's clothes who's knocking on his window at two in the morning claiming to be said friend.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

A year passed before Marty saw his eccentric friend once more. Honestly, Marty gave up hoping Doc would return. He had all of time to explore and a family to show it to. Consider coming back to Hill Valley, 1985? Ha! What was the point? No, the Doc was busy seeing far cooler places, meeting amazing people, doing spectacular things.

So it came as a complete shock when Marty ran into him again.

It was a silent day in Hill Valley. The birds were too lazy to sing in the summer heat, and the people were too lazy to kick up a fuss. Across a massive clocktower positioned in a well-kept town square, shops lined the streets and a curious shopping bag spun toward a gutter. The only sound was a continuous _thump, thump, thump._ A cat yawned, bored by reality and the cerulean sky stretched from horizon to horizon. Gradually, the thumping got louder and louder until a thin boy whizzed around a corner and zipped through the town square. His fingers clung desperately to the bumper of an annoyed jeep and he let out an exhilarated whoop. The noise startled the cat, who yelped in annoyance and skittered away. Shrieking, the wheels on the boy's skateboard sparked against the asphalt. The boy's feet were planted firmly on the skateboard, but suddenly the jeep took a sharp turn. Obviously, the driver was done playing the boy's game. The turn was too much for the skateboard, and the front left wheel gave one last scream before snapping in half and shooting away.

Spinning sideways, the boy let out a shriek. His skateboard flew through the air and sailed through a window. Dang it. He actually liked that diner. Landing on his back, the boy rolled several feet across the grass lawn in front of the town hall.

Then everything was still again.

The boy groaned, and then a small chuckled left his lips. He shot his fist in the air and let out another whoop. "That was _awesome_!"

Groaning, he flopped down on the ground again. Yes, that was awesome, but it also hurt. A lot.

"Hey! Hey kid! You okay?" said a voice somewhere between concern, and amusement, "Do you have a death wish?"

The boy's head popped up from the ground and he grinned. "Naw, just bored s'all, Mister."

Laughing, the man who spoke ran a hand through his chestnut hair. "I know the feeling, kid." He stepped closer and helped the boy to his feet. "Hurt?"

The boy accepted the man's hand and brushed himself off. "No. I'm alright." Good grief, his mother was going to _kill _him when she saw her son. He was covered in grass stains, dirt, and several minor scratches. "Thanks for asking. Most of the fellows around here don't bother anymore." He looked the unfamiliar man up and down. "You new 'round here?"

The man nodded. "Not staying long. Looking for a friend of mine. He hangs around places like this…"

Eyebrows rising, the boy snorted. "Must be a boring guy, to _want _to hang around here."

The man chuckled. "You'd be surprised…"

Turning to look at the diner's window, the boy cringed. "I should probably get my skateboard out of there…" he muttered.

The man laughed again. "Yeah. Probably."

His eyes flicking back toward the man, the boy fumbled with his words. "Well, uh, thanks again for helping me up. I'll just…" He pointed with his thumb and took a few steps back.

Nodding, the man waved goodbye. "Nice ta meetcha, kid."

The boy turned away and rolled his eyes. Jogging across the street, he almost didn't say anything else… But he _always _had the last word. At the door of the diner, he spun around.

The man was still standing there. He wore a navy-blue trench coat that made the boy think of a soldier. Standing on top of the grassy hill, the man shoved his hands into his pockets and stared after the boy.

"Ya know," the boy started, "I'm not _actually _a kid. I'll be eighteen in, like, six months."

"Really? I'll be one-thousand and eighty in… _two _days?" the man scratched his head. "I think. Hard to keep track. Might be off a few years"

The boy laughed. "Right. Happy early birthday, I guess?"

A chuckle escape the man's lips, but it was accompanied by a small frown. "Yeah. Thanks."

Turning to leave, the boy was stopped again by the man. "Hey, not-a-kid! What's your name?"

The boy cocked his head. "Marty McFly. Yours?"

The man smiled devilishly. "Jack, Jack Harkness."

"Nice ta meetcha, Jack." Marty swung open the diner's glass door. "See ya around!"

With that, the door swung shut, and Marty put the man out of his mind.

AN: PLEASE REVIEW! What do you think?


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Marty McFly! _What _were you thinking?!"

Marty cringed, closing the front door. Evidently the diner called his parents. "Hey, Mom."

"Don't 'hey mom' me! What on earth would possess you to grab onto the back of a moving vehicle! You've got your _own _car for goodness sake!"

"Aw Mom. It wasn't that bad. I do this sort of thing all the time!"

Mrs. McFly's eyes widened. Her black curls bounced as she shook her head disapprovingly.

Marty realized his mistake and quickly backpedaled. "I- I mean, it wasn't that dangerous or nuthin'."

"You do this sort of thing ALL THE TIME?!"

Gulping, Marty set his backpack down on the kitchen table and bit his lip. "It was an accident. I didn't mean for the skateboard to go through the window…" His skateboard was demolished and he wouldn't be using it for quite a while.

Mrs. McFly sighed in exasperation. "That's it, Marty! You are going to pay the diner for that broken window, and you can hand over your car keys." She extended a dainty hand.

"WHAT?!" Marty's voice squeaked in indignation. "How the heck am I suppose to go places if I don't have a car or my skateboard?" He gestured at the broken wheel and scowled at his mother.

Mrs. McFly shrugged and looked at her hand pointedly. "I suppose you could always _walk_, but since you're _grounded_, you won't have anywhere to go anyway."

Huffing, Marty dug his hand into his pocket and deposited his keys. "Fine. There."

And then he stomped off down the hallway. He passed his sister on the way to his room, and she looked at him pointedly. "Jeeze, what burned _your _butt?"

"Shut up."

Reaching his room, he flung open the door, stomped in, and kicked it shut.

His room was a complete disaster, food wrappers, old homework, and dirty clothing littered the floor. Posters covered the walls and something that resembled fish tank sat on his dresser. He wasn't sure if any fish lived in there anymore, but if they did, they were probably mutating into the ninja turtles or something by now.

He fell backwards onto his bed and closed his eyes. Great. There went his summer.

Honestly, Marty knew he had gotten worse of late. He was constantly getting in trouble for stunts like this, but it was only because he was _constantly _fighting the urge to run off and do something- anything.

He was just so _bored_.

After seeing the future, the wild west, saving the space and time continuum, normal life lost its color.

Sure he enjoyed spending time with Jennifer. Actually, she was the one bright spot in his life. He smiled just thinking about her, but how on earth was he suppose to live the rest of his life in this tiny pit of a town now that he knew how much was out there?  
>Marty sat up and rubbed his eyes. He couldn't stay here, even if his mother double-grounded him. He needed air. He needed to do something. Now.<p>

Tying his shoes, Marty slowly cracked open a window on the wall to his left. Suddenly his pocket buzzed. Marty paused and fished the electronic out of his pocket. He found two of the electronics months ago while exploring Doc Brown's lab. He didn't show it to anyone but Jennifer, who he gave the other device too. He used it to converse with her. A phone/walkie-talkie that fit in his pocket and was charged by friction created by movement when he walked, what could get better? It was genius. Good old Doc…

Marty flipped it open and glanced at the screen. Shining green, the screen had black letters, a message from Jennifer, scrawled across it.

_Heard abt yur little 'accident' whts up with yu lately?_ it said.

Marty sighed and shut the phone. No matter how hard he tried to explain how he felt to Jennifer, she still didn't understand. She couldn't feel the near-claustrophobia he felt while idle, or the breathless rush he got every time he did something dangerous.

"Maybe I'm getting ADHD," he said to himself. hopping out of the window, he shoved the phone into the pocket of his jacket. "Can that happen? Can you 'get' that sort of thing?"

He frowned and exited the gate. "I don't think so." Careful to stay away from windows, Marty snuck away from the house and began walking randomly down the street. As long as he wasn't home, Marty didn't care where his feet took him. "Or maybe it's all in my head," He gestured with his hands, speaking to no one in particular. "And I'm just mad that the only adventure I'll ever have is over and done with…"

Marty sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He kicked a stone and it skidded across the dark road. The sun left Hill Valley hours ago. Now the musical sound of crickets filled the air. To be perfectly honest, Marty was happy to see Doc Brown fly off to live his dream, and Marty thought that living a typical, perfectly normal life would be enough for him.

But what Marty forgot was how _dull _normal life got. Thank God for Jennifer Parker. She was his saving grace.

It wasn't untill was several minutes later that he finally looked at his surrounds. His breath quickened and he gave a small smile.

The empty stripe mall was gloomy and frankly just as creepy as it was the last time Marty was here. The parking lot was dark and striped. If Marty squinted, he could make out the burn marks where the Delorean had traveled for the first time. He smiled at the memory.

"_I'll be the first time traveler, Marty McFly! Just think, a moment from now we will have made history!" Doc grinned manically, slipping into the Delorean. "Now make sure you video all of this, Marty. It's very important!"_

"_I'm recording, Doc. Don't worry."_

Of all the places his feet could take him... Sighing, Marty sat down on the grass hill overlooking the strip mall. How amazing that such an insignificant location could host such a remarkable event.

Yawning, Marty was about to get up and wander somewhere else when something caught his eye. He turned, squinting. Was that… was that a person down there?

He took a step closer and blinked. Yes, there _was _someone down there. The person lay prostrate on the parking lot, a brown coat sweeping the ground around him.

Eyes widening, Marty gulped. Could it be-? No. That was impossible.

He rubbed his eyes again and looked. "No way," Marty breathed. That definitely was a familiar coat. A flash of white hair. All of the breath inside of Marty rushed out of him. "Holy _crap_!" he shouted, his voice cracking. "DOC! _DOC_!"

Running down the hill faster than he had ever run, Marty tripped, fell, scraped his hands and was on his feet again in an instant. It couldn't be. It wasn't possible!

And then he was at Doc Brown's side. The scientist was on his face and for a moment a horrible thought trickled into the back of Marty's mind. "The heck you doin' here, Doc?" he muttered. Hands shaking, Marty bent down and grasped his friend's arm. He was covered in ice. Grunting, Marty pushed him so that Doc was face up. "Come on, don't be- don't be-" Marty couldn't say it. After all he had done to keep the mad scientist alive, and after letting his heart leap with joy and hope, could Doc really be dead? He wasn't breathing and Marty let out a strangled shout. "WAKE UP!" he screamed, slamming his hands against the man's chest.

Suddenly Doc Brown gasped, choking on the air. His chest heaved and those wild eyes Marty had come to adore flew open.

Staring in shock, Doc didn't move for a whole five seconds. "Great Scott," he finally coughed, "Is that you, Marty?"

Relief flowed through Marty like water and he fell backwards. It was only then that he realized his cheeks were wet. "Drat it, Doc! I thought you were dead!"

Doc Brown sat up slowly, looking around the parking lot in bewilderment. "How in time's name did I get here?" he muttered.

Wiping his face in embarrassment, Marty gave Doc Brown a look. "You don't know?"

Doc opened his mouth and then closed it. thinking, he said nothing for several seconds. And then the man's entire face broke into a million pieces. "Oh." he croaked simply, "That's right. How did I forget?"

Marty was really confused now. "What did you forget?" he asked, "Where's your family? Jules? Vern? Clara?"

Doc turned a tortured gaze upon his friend. The depth of emotion in the man's eyes was so intense that Marty leaned away. Something terrible had happened.

"It was so quick," Doc mumbled, "They took over the train before I could even think! I thought we were safe when we traveled in the vortex, but these things caught up to us!"

Marta frowned. "Wait, Doc, slow down. Vortex? Who took the train? What happened?"

Doc shook his head and buried it in his palms. "If I was faster, smarter, better, then I could have _saved _them, Marty! It's my fault they're dead!"

Sucking in a breath, Marty leaned back on his heels. Poor Clara, she was a brilliant woman. "No Doc," Marty insisted "You just said it yourself. You were attacked somehow. Whatever attacked you did it. It's their fault, not yours."

Doc Brown groaned. "Yes, but if I had never taken them traveling with me in the _first _place then this never would have come to pass!"

That was true, but Marty couldn't say that. "You didn't know what would happen."

Doc's eyes glazed over and his shoulders slumped. "I am a stupid, selfish old man, Marty, always have been. I know time travel was dangerous, but I continue to do it, and besides that, I roped my entire family into it." Tears came to the scientist's eyes and he quickly blinked them away. "Jules, Verne, Clara. I've killed them."

Marty wasn't sure what to say, but luckily he didn't need to come up with a response. Suddenly Doc's eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed onto the concrete unconscious.

**_AN: Please review! I want to know what you think! PLEASE!_**

**_So now the story is rolling! Woohoo!_**

**_Sorry it took so long to update. I have a nasty habit of starting a million stories at once._**

**_That was an exaggeration by the way. A million is quite a lot. It's more like 13. But still._**

**_Yeah. So any-who, please review!_**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Marty was glad Doc Brown's house wasn't far from the strip mall, but even so, it took him two hours to haul the unconscious man to the house. Dropping him as gently as he could on the ill-kept lawn, Marty walked to the front door and quickly felt under the welcome mat for a key.

It was always there when he came around the house a year back, but who knew what happened when a house was abandoned for so long?

"Bingo," Marty murmured, pulling out a shiny yellow key. It was cool on his fingertips. HOUSE was written in large letters across the side and Marty smiled.

Thoroughly exhausted, he entered the room, dropped his friend on the couch and breathed a sigh of relief. Marty fell backwards into an armchair and didn't move for several minutes. Dragging an unconscious Doc had to be the hardest thing he'd ever done. Marty slumped deeper into the cushions and stared at his friend. He looked old.

Granted of course, Doc always looked old. However there was a new level of exhaustion that surrounded him, lining his lips and eyes. Idly, Marty wondered how many years had passed since Doc last saw him.

During the time passed, life tore the scientist to bits and threw a broken man into Marty's lap. What was he suppose to do now?

Something terrible had happened, Marty got that much. Clara, Jules, and Verne were dead and Doc thought it was his fault.

How does a man move forward with that on his consciousness?

Marty didn't know, but he would do whatever it took to sew his friend back together.

His eyes drooped and Marty yawned. "Should get home..." He muttered, "Mom will kill m..." He trailed off, fast asleep in Doc's dusty armchair.

Jack Harkness gripped the bottle in his fist. Swinging it up, he gulped down the rancid continents and sighed. The moon made white stripes across the hotel room's carpet and Jack's body was silhouetted by the same sky.

Annoyed by the beauty of the night, he turned his back to it and rubbed his neck with his hands. "Drat it, Doctor," he muttered.

A conglomeration of photos, newspaper clippings, and messy notes were scattered on the floor. Someone spotted a disappearing blue box last year. A man appeared to a woman's grandmother and then looked the same forty years later. Apparently a teacher from 1913 wrote a book about his dreams. All the dreams were adventures of the Doctor's. Giving further proof to the story, the teacher, John Smith, mysteriously disappeared and was never seen again.

The Doctor, that idiot of a Time Lord, and Jack's only hope. He was everywhere; everywhere _Jack _wasn't.

"You would think," Jack drawled drunkenly, "after two thousand years, _statistically _I would run into you at _least _once…"

He stared at the beer bottle angrily. "This is crap. I need some 51st century stuff." Smiling grimly, he let the bottle slip from his fingers and stared at the ceiling. "Can you do that Doctor? Get me a bottle of daggone _expensive _champagne from 5034! Believe me, I have earned it several times over!"

Silence.

Jack sighed. "Who am I kidding? Look at me. I'm a wreck."

And he was. Jack didn't put up pretenses when he was alone. The mischievous smile on his lips fled the moment he closed the door, and his shoulders slumped under the weight of all the years.

Jack was at the end of his rope. This little town in the middle of nowhere was his last chance, his only lead in finding the Doctor. Years earlier, Jack set up a machine that detected temporal anomalies, the scar tissue made by time travel. And this town was crawling in it.

But why? Why was there so much evidence of time travel? Was it the Doctor or someone else? Some_thing_ else?

Whatever the cause, Jack intended to unravel the secret this town was buried. He liked mysteries, they distracted him.

However, right now he was making absolutely _no _headway. Nil, nada, zip. In all outward appearances, Hill Valley was a perfectly normal, _extremely _boring town.

Jack sighed, rubbing his temples. "Come on, Doctor, haven't I waited long enough?"

Doc's eyes flew open and out of habit, he lept up. His feet hit the ground with a soft thud and he swayed. Blinking, he placed his hand on the mantlepiece to steady himself.

Quickly glancing about the room, he realized he was in his old house, the one he lived in before he met Clara.

Clara.

Doc's stomach flipped and he ground his fingers into the wood. "Can't think about it…" he muttered. "How did I get here?" He let go of the mantlepiece and paced the room. "Those creatures shot me out of the train and into the vortex… rightly so, I should have died, but possibly…" he paused, thinking furiously. "Maybe the vortex somehow tapped into my thoughts, sending me back to my original timeline. Would that work?" He huffed, throwing his hands in the air. "Apparently so."

Then a small memory trickled into the back of his mind. "Marty…" Doc whispered. Hadn't Marty been with him in the vortex? He frowned. "No, no he came after…" he sighed, " then again, exposure to the raw time winds of the vortex could easily cause me to hallucinate... Yes, that must have been it."

Marty, meanwhile, was heavily asleep in the armchair; however, the Doctor's ranting drug him into half consciousness. Stretching, he yawned and stood up. He gave Doc a bored glance and wandered into the kitchen. Coffee. Right now all he wanted was a cup of coffee.

He yawned again, the back of his hand pressed against his mouth. Sliding open a cupboard, he stared dumbly into the empty space. Of course there wasn't food. Marty cleared most of it out himself when he realized that it would rot with Doc gone.

"On the other hand, it might have rotted anyway," he said to no one in particular. "Given his habits…"

Meanwhile, Doc Brown was ranting in the other room, throwing his arms in the air and stomping about. Then the sound stopped and Marty frowned.

Was something wrong?

Slowly, Marty crept behind the kitchen door and prepared to peek out into the living room. However, at the same time Doc burst through the door, waving a fire extinguisher.

"By the power of the Shadow Proclamation I demand that you surrender alien fe-!" Doc stopped suddenly, realizing who stood in his kitchen. He huffed, dropping the extinguisher."Marty, for stars sake, don't _do _that. I thought you were an alien!"

Then Doc Brown's eyes suddenly widened, _really _realizing who stood in his kitchen. "MARTY?!" he cried, rushing forward. "Is it really you?"

Marty blinked. "What?"

"I thought I was hallucinating!"

"I really think you might be. Did you just say _alien_?"

"Oh yes." Doc waved Marty's shock away. "Turns out there's billions of them, out in the stars. We found them forever ago, been traveling for ages. But that's beside the point. How are _you _here?"

Marty gaped. "Aliens. Like little green men with the funny-"

"Oh don't be ridiculous!" Doc Brown interrupted. "Of course not. Except, well. We did run into these- stop distracting me, Marty! It's hard enough to concentrate with you speaking a million miles a minute."

"Me." Marty's eyebrows rose incredulously. "_I'm _speaking a million miles a minute."

"Yes _you_. It hardly would be me!"

Marty just shook his head. "Whatever, Doc." He yawned, pushing past the scientist and entering the living room. Light filtered through dusty windows and gave the room an abandoned feel. Marty didn't take the time to fully look at it. He glanced backwards at his old friend and gave him a small smile. "Are you… okay?" he asked cautiously, snatching up his coat, which he'd discarded some time in the night.

Doc frowned at him, "Of course I'm okay! I am the king of okay!"

"Uh huh," Marty said with a slow nod. He didn't believe him for a minute. Looked the scientist up and down, Marty searched for a sign of his true emotions, but he had them quietly tucked away. "What you said about… about you family. It's not true, right? They're not really-?"

"-Dead?" Doc finished, his voice suddenly low. His face had gone slack, like someone was sucking the color out of his body. His eyes dimmed and his mouth hardened. "Yes. It's true."

Watching the miraculous change in his friends demeanor, Marty gulped. He most definitely was not the king of okay. For a moment Marty debated whether he should leave him or not. Then he shook his head mentally. It was still early morning. He needed to get home before his mother woke up and realized he had been gone all night. Marty headed for the door but glanced back at the last second. He felt horribly guilty for leaving him here alone, especially when he looked so lifeless. "Do you want me to stay, Doc? I can if you want."

Doc shook his head, turned away and began fiddling with a contraption on the mantelpiece. "No, no, Marty. Of course not. You've got school and your mother will be furious if she realizes you've been gone all night."

Marty blinked. "Maybe she knows I'm here," he argued.

"When have you _ever _told your mother where you go?" the scientist sighed, glancing at him.

"Touche."

"Really." Doc insisted, giving him a small smile. "Go home Marty. I'll keep myself busy somehow."

Sighing, Marty conceded and opened up the door. "Alright." A blast of warm air wrapped around him like a sweaty blanket and he paused to look back one last time. "I know it doesn't mean anything, Doc," he said softly, "But I'm sorry."

Doc Brown's gaze had settled on the floor, but now it jumped up. He nodded and seemed to physically push away his dire mood. "Me too, Marty. Me too."

**_AN: Sorry about the delay. I've got half a million other stories I'm trying to write at the same time as this one. Ugh... Anywho, please REVIEW! I love to hear your feedback!_**


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